Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite #6) by Rina Kent

“You don’t have pepper spray.”

“He believed I did. What are you so agitated about?”

“What am I so agitated about?” His words are clipped. “Why do you fucking think? He could’ve taken both of you to God knows where in his state. Do you have no sense of self-preservation?”

“I only did what I thought was right. Okay?”

“Not okay. It’s not fucking okay to throw yourself in danger like that.” He glares at her and she glares back, unyielding.

I respect that about Elsa. Aiden is a psycho, but he’s met his match in her.

During their entire exchange, I try to ignore the gloomy energy at my back but fail.

“Very well, Silver. Very well.” Cole’s voice is the equivalent of being stabbed with a thousand knives. “Tell them why we’re here.”

“I only found out yesterday.” I stare at my nails. “Adam came over and…well, he said a lot of shit.”

“Say it,” Cole whips out his order.

“Adam said that…” I lick my lips. Damn. Why do I feel so guilty about this? “He was the one who pushed Elsa in the pool.”

Elsa’s blue eyes double in size, but she stays silent.

“He did, huh?” Aiden drawls.

“Go on,” Cole urges. “Tell them why he did it.”

“He said he did it to get in my good graces, okay?” I slide my gaze to Elsa’s. “I swear I had nothing to do with it. I only just found out myself. If I’d known, I would’ve told you.”

“But you knew Adam’s intentions.” Cole digs the knife deeper. “And apparently, you’ve known about them for a long time.”

I swallow. “Cole —”

“Not a word.”

“Cole —”

“Go wait in the car.”

Ugh. Seriously. Why does he keep doing this?

You know what? Enough is enough.

I jerk up, throwing my hands in the air. “Come here, Silver. Go there, Silver. What do you think I am? Your fucking toy?”

He remains motionless as he repeats, “Go wait in the car.”

Then I do something I’ve never done in public before. I flip him off.

I flip Cole Nash the bird.

And because I’m somewhat of a coward, I storm to the entrance.

Before I reach it, I stop, recalling something important. I face Elsa and whisper, “I’m sorry.”

I slam the door shut behind me, but I don’t leave. The thing is, this door isn’t soundproof — most likely because it’s old. I discovered it once when I came here and listened in on Levi, Aiden’s cousin, having sex with his girlfriend, Astrid. But I ran away before they could discover my perverted tendencies.

That was my first voyeurism experience. Well, it was just audible, but it counts. That was when I started to think that maybe I enjoy things on the edge.

Maybe that’s why I became entangled too fast with Cole. Not only does he not judge me, but he also shares those tendencies with me and he’s not at all apologetic about it.

“Let’s meet later,” Cole says — to Aiden, I assume.

“I’ll get in touch,” the other dick replies.

“And, Elsa?” Cole calls.

“Yeah?” She sounds distracted.

“She only learnt this information yesterday. Don’t beat her up again.”

My heart nearly bursts at Cole’s words. I can’t believe he just said that when he’s mad at me.

“Says the guy who watched while she was beaten to a pulp.” Aiden scoffs.

“She brought it on herself that time.”

And he had to ruin it.

Doesn’t matter, though. He stood up for me.

Before he comes out, I run to the main street and walk for some time before I catch a taxi.

Yes, I’m a coward and I really don’t want to deal with his wrath right now.

I know I’m only delaying the inevitable, but he’ll eventually cool off.

Right?





34





Cole





Silver ran away to her mother’s house.

Again.

She’s starting to make a habit out of it and I’m going to fuck it — amongst other things — out of her.

But first, I have to take care of business.

Like the sorry fuck who’s now going home after a drinking session in a pub.

Aiden, Xander, and I wait for him in the dark car park. Adam chooses this poor neighbourhood because it gives him some much-needed camouflage. He gets to drink as much as he wants without anyone bothering him or threatening to tell his father about it.

Xander is the one who gave us this piece of information since he does the same whenever he wants to escape his father’s wrath. Though he still doesn’t want to admit that he’s developing a drinking problem.

However, that’s not important right now. The fucker who’s going to come out is.

“Where’s Ronan?” Xander asks.

“He’s stoned,” Aiden says. “I’m going to fuck up his face if he complains that we’re keeping him out.”

“He wants to be kept out.” I place a hand in my pocket to prevent it from curling into a fist. I’ve been planning for this moment since last night. Since I saw the fear in Silver’s eyes as she dashed out in see-through clothes. She’s not the type who goes out unprepared, which means she was scared about her parents’ careers more than she showed. The fact that that bastard Adam has gotten under her skin this way makes me want to eradicate him from this world.